Tigers vs Port game thread

[one-eyed]

Tigers wary of Port threat in Darwin
Larine Statham and Sam Lienert
May 27, 2011 - 6:34PM
AAP

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick says Saturday night's AFL opponents Port Adelaide have the potential to be a much greater threat than recent form suggests.

The Tigers, coming off four wins in five games, including last Saturday night's hard-fought victory over Essendon, will be in unfamiliar territory on two fronts for the Darwin clash.

One of those is the venue.

The match is nominally Richmond's home game, but the Power are regular visitors to TIO Stadium, while the Tigers have never before played a home and away game there.

The other is Richmond's short-priced favouritism.

That is a very rare experience for a youthful side that notched just six wins in Hardwick's first season in charge last year and has finished 15th for the past two years.

And it is a status the coach is paying scant regard to, despite the Power's season being seemingly in free-fall on the back of five straight losses.

"They've got some young talent, which is always a danger and we're a young developing side also," Hardwick told reporters on Friday.

"So I think you're going to see two sides over the course of the next two to three years that are going to be pretty formidable come the future.

"So we've come up here prepared to play and looking for another win."

After Richmond were buoyed by a home crowd of more than 80,000 against the Bombers last weekend, a partisan Tigers crowd would likely have helped their cause if Saturday night's game was in Melbourne.

Richmond's unfamiliarity with the Darwin venue was not helped when a scheduled pre-season clash against the Indigenous All-Stars at the ground had to be scrapped because of bad weather.

But Hardwick said he did not expect Richmond's decision to host the game in the Northern Territory to work against them.

"Not really. There's no doubt we'd love to have 50,000 supporters here," he said.

"But, look, I'm sure we'll get a great crowd up here tomorrow night. There's a massive Tiger contingent up here. I think it's going to be a terrific atmosphere.

"I've played here once before and it's been a real carnival-type atmosphere."

Richmond will be without young defender Dylan Grimes, who is expected to miss several months with a major hamstring injury.

Matt White was recalled, while key forward Brad Miller returns from illness at the expense of Jayden Post.

The Power made one change, dropping Steven Salopek in favour of Cameron Hitchcock.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/tigers-wary-of-port-threat-in-darwin-20110527-1f8b4.html

[the claw]

WP..

Really, wouldn't you think that out of all the games we have played this year, this one is the one we should all be the most confident about??? Every one was more confident going into the Carlton, Hawks, Bulldogs games that we lost and I would have thought they were the hardest ones to call.

That's why I am nervous WAT we are expected to win

Just like we were against Brisbane and we really struggled that night until the last qtr

just like we struggled against an injury riddled nm and only got over them in the last few minutes. same for freo half their players on the injury list and we only get over them in the last when they fall in a heap.
we fall in against an injury depleted essendon in the last few minutes.
while most are over the moon so far this yr i reckon circumstances have smiled on us so far. we are not that good a side that any team we play is a given.

[Coach]

Gee Im tired. 

[gerkin greg]

i'm tired of the phil donohue with cancer guy up there above you

[Coach]

are you calling me guy, guy? I won't accept that. Do you understand, guy? Or maybe you want another PM? Yeah, I thought so, guy.

Back to the tiges

[one-eyed]

From today's NT News...

Tiger midfielder Trent Cotchin said exciting times were ahead for the ninth-placed Tigers.

A win over last-placed Port Adelaide tonight will see them pounce into the top eight, something the 51-game Tiger wants to happen.

"The signs are promising, but we've just got to continue focusing on what we need to do each week and make sure it happens in Darwin," Cotchin said.

"The recruiting guys have done a fantastic job by getting a good mix of guys with terrific character to the club.

"Then there are the more experienced guys who have been around for five or six years that are starting to play some really good footy."

Cotchin said there was no complacency among the players with the four premiership points up for grabs tonight.

"Port had a really good second half against Fremantle last week, so they'll be coming out firing. We're looking forward to the challenge, we always have a good hitout with them."

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2011/05/28/236191_ntsport.html

[TigerTimeII]

didnt we play port at this ground during the nab challenge

if so why are all journos saying we are in unfamiliar territory when iirc , during the nab game there
many locals and fans were on our side

so most players will be familiar with the ground and also tyrone bagged 5 that night

[mat073]

didnt we play port at this ground during the nab challenge

if so why are all journos saying we are in unfamiliar territory when iirc , during the nab game there
many locals and fans were on our side

so most players will be familiar with the ground and also tyrone bagged 5 that night

We played Port in Alice Springs.

[mightytiges]

I can only see us winning well if we break Port open in the first half. Both sides have matched up well on each other in recent years (like us with Essendon) so I hope we have a strong mindset and take this game as seriously as we did last week. Young sides are notorious for being up and down so this is no gimme especially as we sold away our home advantage.

[the claw]

 TO quote michael  braun ex premiership player talking about wce playing coll.while the playing away part is not so relevant to us.
 Playing well, performing well and beating the good sides is the real gauge and we should take heed

quote
The true test is playing against the top sides, the premiership side from last yr, just in terms of finding out where they are at,how much improvement they have really got.

That is the real test for them.
Can you play good footy away from home and beat sides?
Then can you can you play good footy away from home and beat the better sides?
"That is where you want to play the best sides  and do well,away from home because it is a big gauge.

we beat port last yr a bottom side we should beat the port of this yr a bottom side what gauge do we take away from this game if we win. how do we gauge improvement based on the  result alone.
does winning even equate to improvement depending on how we go about it.
in all honesty if we have improved as much as people are suggesting we should win this game by 10 goals or more.

one could argue against the better sides when all things are equal injury form etc we have not done very well at all against the better sides.

[TigerTimeII]

didnt we play port at this ground during the nab challenge

if so why are all journos saying we are in unfamiliar territory when iirc , during the nab game there
many locals and fans were on our side

so most players will be familiar with the ground and also tyrone bagged 5 that night

We played Port in Alice Springs.

thats right cheers

now i remember game was shifted due to the cyclone

[FNM]

I'm babysitting at a house with no Foxtel tonight 
What radio station are we on?

[Penelope]

TO quote michael  braun ex premiership player talking about wce playing coll.while the playing away part is not so relevant to us.
 Playing well, performing well and beating the good sides is the real gauge and we should take heed

quote
The true test is playing against the top sides, the premiership side from last yr, just in terms of finding out where they are at,how much improvement they have really got.

That is the real test for them.
Can you play good footy away from home and beat sides?
Then can you can you play good footy away from home and beat the better sides?
"That is where you want to play the best sides  and do well,away from home because it is a big gauge.

we beat port last yr a bottom side we should beat the port of this yr a bottom side what gauge do we take away from this game if we win. how do we gauge improvement based on the  result alone.
does winning even equate to improvement depending on how we go about it.
in all honesty if we have improved as much as people are suggesting we should win this game by 10 goals or more.

one could argue against the better sides when all things are equal injury form etc we have not done very well at all against the better sides.

we should win this by ten goals, on form. But to me the real test will be to see how we back up after a big win in a big game, one week out from a break, in a game we are expected to win.

This is unfamiliar territory for a lot of these kids and everthing at the momemnt is a learning process.

they may very come out flat. port get the jump in the first and they just cannot play catchup footy, is a possibility.

tonight is a real test of the sides mental strength, something we have lacked for years but are starting to show now.





off to catch the last half of the thunder game then bring it on.

 

stuff id love for us to hump them. havn't been on the right end of many thrashings in recent years:pray

[tony_montana]

well said al, my sentiments exactly

[The Big Richo]

we should win this by ten goals, on form.

Not just on form.

On paper I reckon the Port side is about as bad as an AFL team has been in a decade.